


bonds/friends

by AllegraBanner



Series: Tokyo Ghoul Week 25-31 Oct 2020 [1]
Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Gen, Tokyo Ghoul Week, Tokyo Ghoul Week 2020, bonds/friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:13:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27302485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllegraBanner/pseuds/AllegraBanner
Summary: Hideyoshi Nagachika wants to go home.
Relationships: Kaneki Ken | Sasaki Haise & Nagachika Hideyoshi
Series: Tokyo Ghoul Week 25-31 Oct 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1993417
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	bonds/friends

Hideyoshi Nagachika wants to go home.

He sneaks behind the ongoing battles; deeper and deeper into enemy territory. He holds his breath as steady as he can, concentrating every muscle in his body on staying hidden and the rest on staying focused.

For Kaneki, he reminds himself as he wades through the water of blood-filled sewers. He's not sure if it's human blood, or ghoul blood. It's probably a little of both. A lot of both. He's not sure if he wants to know.

"For Kaneki," he says aloud, because he needs to ground himself in the moment or he risks everything he has and more.

It is no longer just him and Kaneki.

He doesn't know how to feel about Kaneki anymore. They were friends, yes, for years and years. They shared so many memories, but something about it felt… _off_.

But none of that matters. None of it matters at all if he spends too long by himself and leaves Kaneki in the Reaper's hands, so he pushes down his worries with all his might and pushes forward with everything else.

Rize Kamishiro was where this started, in a coffee-scented room with a cosy atmosphere that totally and completely failed to warn them of what was to come. And this is where it will end, in a blood-encrusted sewer surrounded by nothing but death from every angle.

He is not free of blame for the situation, for his—for Kaneki's situation. Kaneki might have never gone on that date if not for his pestering, if he hadn't been so curious about this mystery girl taking up so much of Kaneki's head space. If only he had been more trustworthy, maybe Kaneki would have told him.

A scream echoes off the walls.

_Kaneki_.

Giant centipedes round the bend of the sewer channel seven feet ahead of him, and for a moment he is frozen.

Hideyoshi Nagachika wants to go home.

So, he does what he's been doing for the last—has it really been a year? Has it really been so little time when it feels like an eternity? He's been dodging bullets and questions and kagune alike, dipping in and out of the spotlight but never infringing upon the main stage. He's been building a paper tower in the background of this play for the sole purpose of this single moment, this one chance, the only shot he'll ever get to pull Kaneki into the spotlight once more.

Kaneki has always been good on stage.

He does what he's been doing ever since Kaneki vanished: he pretends.

He pretends for all he's worth, and it _works_. It hurts, more than it should because he's not the one whose face is bleeding, dripping into the water and leaving no trace of it behind as the already bloodied sewer carries it off. Kaneki is hurting in ways that he'll only ever imagine, and never accurately place. His best friend—is that really what they are?—is breaking, has already broken almost beyond repair and thinks he's a hallucination, so he does the only thing he can do to prove he's really _real_.

He puts a hand on Kaneki's shoulder and ignores the way he flinches.

Hideyoshi Nagachika wants to go home.

He thinks that Kaneki wants to as well.

He smiles.

"I knew," he says. "But it doesn't matter to me, man!"

Kaneki has a hole in his torso, but that doesn't stop him now.

"Let's go home."

The paper tower crumbles to the ground.

**Author's Note:**

> Original post :  
> https://allegrabanner.tumblr.com/post/63289999537403008/tokyo-ghoul-week-2020-oct-25


End file.
